The concept of this book piqued my interest and I finished it because, perhaps, I'm an optimist. I kept hoping it would become something it isn't.

I was going to talk about what the book does well first but I'm honestly struggling to name something specific. It has less of the Mary Sue stuff than the character's in Pratchett's Monstrous Regiment, although the protagonist's competence does rather strain credibility as the narrative progresses.

The book seems willing to inflict tragedy on its characters but feels unpracticed in doing so. A character's death occurs in the first chapter and this rather put a damper on my ability to engage with the character during the flashback sequence leading up to the first chapter. It was hard for me to engage with any of the vague hopes of the character as they made little progress towards them before exiting stage left.

Speaking of which, the "flashback sequence" really dragged things out. Few things happened for two hundred pages. The world didn't end up feeling fleshed out, the supporting cast didn't feel particularly well drawn, and ultimately I think the setup was self-sabotaging. Whilst some Austen-esque stuff is attempted, the war-torn home front is desolate enough that little remains for the socialites to engage with. Bit of an own goal there! Anyway, this goes on for a few hundred pages without ever becoming entertaining.

Right, let's talk technology and similar. The author seems to not have much in the way of a clear vision of how the technology of his setting works. I don't personally care too much, as long as it feels internally consistent. It feels like the author wanted Vietnam War, the Crimean War, and a bit of World War 1 mashed together, but either didn't want to or couldn't make the different technological considerations mesh. I basically tried not to think about it, if I'm honest, and that doesn't strike me as something a reader should have to do.

There's also the magic. Yep, the book has magic. Other than a few minor plot points it seems to serve no purpose in the narrative. Much of the book feels like it might as some point matter but it never really reaches any sort of conclusion. It's there and affects the narrative only when the author remembers it.

Based on my comments earlier you would be forgiven in thinking I was only reading for the combat. Not at all, if anything I could have done with a lot less of the tedious descriptions of traipsing through swamps. Read the first chapter - if that bores you, don't bother with the rest of the book, as you'll be spending an awful lot of time in the soggy boredom of those swamps.

It felt like a muddled mess of missed opportunities and needless verbosity. I'm all for filling in a setting with details that colour the world but this could have been half the length it was and been twice as good.

I didn't actively dislike it, but I can't say I'd recommend it.